What experts look for during a bridge inspection

Grants | Legacy Digitization | Topics | Politics | Special Collections | 35W Bridge Collapse |
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Two high profile bridges span the St. Louis River and the Duluth harbor; connecting that city with Superior, Wisconsin. Each year one of those bridges gets a routine safety examination. But in the wake of the I-35 bridge collapse in Minneapolis two weeks ago, both get a look this summer. Minnesota Public Radio's Bob Kelleher joined a Wisconsin inspector on a nearby bridge in Superior to learn what the experts look for. Every bridge has a personality, and this one is pretty tame. It's an overpass bridge, built in 1962, to carry Highway 53 over a city street. It's called a deck girder bridge, considered a strong and reliable design, with redundant support if something should fail. Inspector Allan Bjorklund looked for problems during an unofficial inspection. He shows how a routine inspection works.

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Digitization made possible by the State of Minnesota Legacy Amendment’s Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, approved by voters in 2008.

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